With recent innovations in wireless network technology has come an increased interest in wireless network security and general wireless network awareness, especially with the development of third generation 3G multimedia capable technologies. Wireless networks are substantially more susceptible to security threats and intrusion than are wireline networks due to the nature of the interface between devices.
For example, in the well known signaling attack, an internet host overloads a wireless network by sending packets at low volume that trigger an excessive amount of signaling/paging events. As another example, in the well known energy attack, an internet host sends appropriately timed packets that inhibit a mobile unit's ability to enter a sleep mode. Such an attack exploits the energy saving functions of the mobile unit and may severely cripple its battery life.
FIG. 1 illustrates several basic components of a conventional Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network.
As shown, a UMTS network 100 typically includes a User Equipment (UE) domain 110, a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) 120, and a General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) Core Network 130. The UE domain 110 includes UEs or mobile stations 111, etc., and communicates wirelessly with the UTRAN 120. The mobile station 111 may be a cell phone, a wireless PDA, a “WiFi”—equipped computer, or the like, for example. The UTRAN 120 includes a base station (Node B) 121, a Radio Network Controller (RNC) 123, etc., and acts as an intermediary between the UE 110 and the Core Network 130. Namely, UTRAN 120 communicates with mobile stations 111 over the air interface.
The Core Network 130 includes at least one Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) 131 and a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) 133. The SGSN 131 and the GGSN 133 communicate with each other via a Gn interface 135 using the GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP), which is the standard IP protocol of GPRS Core Networks. The GGSN 133 communicates with an external network, such as the Internet, via a Gi interface 137. A Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network, the predecessor of UMTS, uses similar components.
The conventional network architecture of a UMTS/GSM network is well known in the art, and therefore a more detailed description here will be omitted.